| City: | Tokyo, Japan |
| Venue: | Nippon Budokan |
| Date: | April 1, 1976 |
| Setlist: | Bohemian Rhapsody (tape & rock part), Ogre Battle, Sweet Lady, White Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, Hangman, Bohemian Rhapsody (verses), Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody (reprise), Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Brighton Rock, Son And Daughter, The Prophet's Song, Stone Cold Crazy, Father To Son, Doing All Right, Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Now I'm Here, Big Spender, Jailhouse Rock, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
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Freddie, after greeting the audience in Japanese: "Ok, it's nice to know you're doing fine. I'm sure that was what you said. It's really nice to be back here for the third show in Tokyo [with March 22 being the first], so let's have some fun, right? This is a song called Sweet Lady." Mercury almost goes into the first chorus a bit early, but he recovers well. This is an excellent performance by the band. The backing vocals are absolutely spot on tonight, particularly in Flick Of The Wrist. Freddie, afterward: "That song was about a very nasty man. Now we're gonna do a song about two nasty men, about two murderers. A song that we did last year when we were here in Nippon, in Japan. It's a song called Hangman." This is the last known live airing of the non-album track. Freddie, before Brighton Rock: "Okay, all you cheeky things, we're now gonna feature Brian May on the guitar. Yes, and to feature him this is a song called Brighton Rock." Freddie, after Stone Cold Crazy: "Are you having fun? Are you having a good time? Yes, I'm sure you are. If only I could speak a little bit more Japanese." He then begins to introduce a song that hasn't been played in nearly a year. "Right now we'd like to a number that we haven't done for a long, long time. This is a song called Father To Son." Unlike versions from 1973-75, Freddie actually plays the intro on the piano (too fast, actually, and the band gradually slow it down before the vocal enters), instead of having the album version on playback as they had done before. This and the following night are the only two known instances of the song performed this way. At the end of the song, Freddie happily says (possibly referring to some rehearsal during soundcheck): "Yeah, we finally got that together!" Freddie's piano intro to In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited includes the part he'd play in I'm In Love With My Car on later tours. Brian plays the riff from The Beatles' I Feel Fine a couple times in Jailhouse Rock. He then slays in his solos in See What A Fool I've Been. Tonight's extra drawn out ending of the song is very effective in ending a concert. |
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| Recording length: | 47 minutes (1 LP, incomplete) | |
| Quality: | B+ | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "Invite You To A Night At The Budokan" LP | |
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| Track listing: | Bohemian Rhapsody (tape & rock part), Flick Of The Wrist, Hangman, Brighton Rock, Son And Daughter, Father To Son, Keep Yourself Alive, Now I'm Here, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
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Released in 1976, this bootleg LP was a compilation of this show and the previous night. Most of the tracks came from the April 1 show. While plenty of songs from April 1 are missing, fortunately the few unusual songs from this tour are all available here. Both shows were likely recorded by the same taper, and perhaps even from the same location, as they sound virtually identical to one another. The recording runs a bit fast. This material would be re-released on various LP and CD bootlegs over the years, but the quality of most of them would worsen. |
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| Recording length: | 47 minutes (1 LP, incomplete) | |
| Quality: | B | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "Mercury Poisoning" LP | |
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| Track listing: | Bohemian Rhapsody (tape & rock part), Flick Of The Wrist, Hangman, Brighton Rock, Son And Daughter, Father To Son, Keep Yourself Alive, Now I'm Here, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
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This 1979 bootleg uses the same material as the above LP, but in worse quality. A second pressing came out in 1980. |
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| Recording length: | 22 minutes (1 LP, incomplete) | |
| Quality: | B | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "The Battle Of 1976" LP | |
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| Track listing: | Father To Son, Keep Yourself Alive, Now I'm Here, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
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Side A of this bootleg is a Wings recording. Side B is a direct copy of the Mercury Poisoning LP. |
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| Recording length: | 43 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) | |
| Quality: | B | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "Year Of The Opera" (All About Fame) silver | |
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| Track listing: | Bohemian Rhapsody (tape & rock part) [cut], Flick Of The Wrist, Hangman, Brighton Rock, Father To Son, Keep Yourself Alive, Now I'm Here, See What A Fool I've Been [cut] |
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This 1993 bootleg uses tracks from one of the inferior LPs. The first three tracks are from one of the Santa Monica '75 bootlegs, and as on the previous copies, Seven Seas Of Rhye and Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon are from the previous night, March 31. |
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| Recording length: | 47 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) | |
| Quality: | B | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "Invite You To A Night At The Budokan" (Kings Road) silver | |
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| Track listing: | Bohemian Rhapsody (tape & rock part), Flick Of The Wrist, Hangman, Brighton Rock, Son And Daughter, Father To Son, Keep Yourself Alive, Now I'm Here, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
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This bootleg from the late 90s is a straight copy of the Mercury Poisoning LP, despite the errors on the back cover. |
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| Recording length: | 47 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) | |
| Quality: | B | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "Tokio Contamination" (Orange Records) silver | |
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| Track listing: | Bohemian Rhapsody (tape & rock part), Flick Of The Wrist, Hangman, Brighton Rock, Son And Daughter, Father To Son, Keep Yourself Alive, Now I'm Here, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
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This 2003 bootleg is yet another copy of the same old tracks. The spelling of "Tokio" is German. The extra tracks (Ogre Battle, Sweet Lady, White Queen, and the medley) are from the Tokyo 4-4-76 show, likely the same material that was on the Cardiac Arrest bootleg. |
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| Recording length: | 111 minutes (2 CD, complete) | |
| Quality: | B+ | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "Geisha Boys - The Complete Tokyo Tapes" (EVSD) silvers | |
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| Track listing: | Bohemian Rhapsody (tape & rock part), Ogre Battle, Sweet Lady, White Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, Hangman, Bohemian Rhapsody (verses), Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody (reprise), Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Brighton Rock, Son And Daughter, The Prophet's Song, Stone Cold Crazy, Father To Son, Doing All Right, Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Now I'm Here, Big Spender, Jailhouse Rock, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
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In 2019 Empress Valley released their first Queen bootleg, a fabulous box set comprising of nine discs of all four nights in Tokyo on this tour. The third night is the pre-LP master tape of source 1 in its entirety, although some compression has been added especially to disc 2, resulting in some occasional slight distortion. Father To Son and See What A Fool I've Been are not listed on the artwork, but they are present as this is the uncut tape. The first four minutes of Liar are filled in with a fourth audience source. Empress Valley simultaneously released a box set called A Night In The Metropolis containing eight of these nine discs. |
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| Recording length: | 87 minutes (incomplete) | |
| Quality: | C+ | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | AUD > Cassette (x) > CDR (x) > WAV (GoldWave speed correction, silences removed) > FLAC level 8 | |
| Track listing: | Bohemian Rhapsody (rock part) [cut], Ogre Battle, Sweet Lady, White Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, Hangman, Bohemian Rhapsody (verses) [cut], Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody (reprise), Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Brighton Rock [cut], Son And Daughter, The Prophet's Song, Stone Cold Crazy [cut], Doing All Right, Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Now I'm Here, Big Spender, Jailhouse Rock |
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This second source from the last night at the Budokan doesn't sound great, with bass distortion and a lot of tape hiss. There are many cuts (the taper pressed pause for the Brighton Rock solo, and Father To Son is missing entirely), and the tape runs much too fast. |
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| Recording length: | 112 minutes (2 CD, complete) | |
| Quality: | B+ | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "Budokan 1976 3rd Night" (Wardour) silvers | |
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| Track listing: | Bohemian Rhapsody (tape & rock part), Ogre Battle, Sweet Lady, White Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, Hangman, Bohemian Rhapsody (verses), Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody (reprise), Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Brighton Rock, Son And Daughter, The Prophet's Song, Stone Cold Crazy, Father To Son, Doing All Right, Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Now I'm Here, Big Spender, Jailhouse Rock, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
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Wardour released this third source in 2022. The sound is great and stable. About 25 seconds of source 1 are used to patch a gap in Father To Son starting at 4:16. |
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